Torrey Blackburn

Partner, Blackburn's Hubcap and Wheel

Not that long ago, Torrey Blackburn ran into a former classmate who asked what he was doing these days.

When Mr. Blackburn replied that he was selling wheels and hubcaps, the classmate responded incredulously, “You've been doing that forever!” Well, not forever; but you'd still be hard-pressed to find many 35-year-olds with a quarter-century's experience in their business.

Torrey and his older brother Jim got their start as kids when their father, Jim Blackburn Sr., began collecting wheel covers from the sides of the roads he traveled as an Archway cookie salesman. The boys would scrub the covers clean, then join Dad on the weekends, selling them at local flea markets.

Eventually, the Blackburns opened a 1,200-square-foot retail store near Interstate 271 and state Route 82 in Macedonia.

This summer, Torrey and his brother — equal partners in the business after buying it a decade ago from their father — moved Blackburn's Hubcap & Wheel into its new, 95,000-square-foot headquarters. Blackburn's sold 136,000 wheels in 2009, and the company has seen double-digit growth for the past 10 years.

“It's evolved into this because he has the knowledge that he's gained by 20 years in the business and knowing the product and growing up with it,” Jim Blackburn Sr. said.

Torrey graduated from Nordonia High School in 1994, and as Blackburn's business began moving toward a commercial focus, serving local auto service centers and repair shops, he and his brother could see a seismic shift ahead.

“We told my dad, "The future's in wheels,'” Torrey recalled. “Dad said, "Well, help me figure out how to take it to the next level.'”

They did, adding regional and then national chain customers to their roster and offering national and international delivery. Now, less than 5% of Blackburn's business comes through retail sales, and since 2008, the company has added to its growth through the purchase of seven competitors.

Torrey still says he and his brother are “ground-level guys,” and walking through the building, he points to storage units they installed and walls they put in themselves.

And, he noted, when employees cleaning wheels talk about how hard the work is, Torrey is quick to recall the years he spent doing the same thing: “I tell them, "You could start scrubbing from now until forever, and you'd never catch up with me.'”

Mr. Blackburn and his wife Aubrey have been married 11 years and have twin daughters.